The UGHS!
''The UGHS! ''is an album by The Residents (under the guise of their conceptual alter-ego The UGHS!) released 3rd November 2009 on MVD Audio. A spin-off of sorts from the sessions for their 2007 concept album The Voice of Midnight, The UGHS! ''is one of the earliest Residents projects (along with the earlier ''High Horses EP, credited to Combo de Mecanico) which portrays its members as a different group entirely, conceptually separate from (or serving to enhance) their other work credited simply to The Residents. History and concept Conceived during the sessions for the group's 2007 album The Voice of Midnight, The UGHS! was a conceptual side-project created by the group in order to "shake things up" and address the differing needs which had developed amongst the group in recent years. This desire among certain members of the group to pursue extra-Residential projects would eventually result in the release of a number of "Charles Bobuck contraptions" in the next several years. The UGHS! features guest appearances from N. Cook on guitar, and Carla Fabrizio on vocals. Describing it as "ritualized, primitive free jazz", the group released the fruits of these sessions as The UGHS! on MVD Audio in November 2009. Tracklisting # The Ughs (2:21) # The Dancing Duck (4:18) # Floating Down The Nile, Part 2 (5:49) # Squeaky Wheels (3:11) # The Lonely Lotus (6:12) # Rendering The Bacon (5:15) # The Horns of Haynesville (9:59) # The Wondering Jew (6:05) # Charlie Chan (4:05) # In The Dark (10:22) Liner notes When The Residents begin work on their 2007 opus to insanity, The Voice of Midnight, the group felt the need to shake things up. Internal forces were pulling them in different directions, with some feeling compelled to follow the purity of an intellectual approach, while others favored the immediacy and rawness of their emotions. Unable to reconcile these different needs within their traditional structure, the group came up with a novel solution, creating an alter ego through which they could act out new roles, consequently freeing themselves from previous perspectives. The Residents then promptly christened this conceptual alter ego as THE UGHS! Realizing that their new direction was not unlike the methodology of psychodrama, they immediately saw THE UGHS as the perfect vehicle for exploring the conflicted emotions of Nate, The Voice of MIdnight's tormented protagonist, and threw themselves into a feverish schedule, recording loose and spontaneous music night and day. Working backwards from this improvised beginning, The Residents then fashioned "written music" from the raw, impulsive ideas they had created. The entire musical structure of The Voice of Midnight was built on these pieces. For the next two years, these original UGHS recordings languished in a box containing various demos, rough ideas and backup files, until someone, in a moment of idle curiosity, put one in a CD player. One-by-one, everyone in the room began to listen. Hearing it with fresh ears, the music of THE UGHS, freed from its previous role supporting The Voice of Midnight's narrative, sounded as fresh and dynamic as it did when it was first recorded. The time had come to resurrect THE UGHS. Falling in the direction of a ritualized, primitive free jazz, some will find THE UGHS startling and unpleasant, while others will appreciate the humanity and beauty underlying its rough surface. Regardless, no longer cloaked in the darkness of midnight, THE UGHS is unlike anything ever recorded by The Residents. Credits Written & Performed: The Residents Produced By: The Cryptic Corp Additional Guitar Solos: N. Cook Additional Vocal: Carla Fabrizio See also * The UGHS! (group) * The Voice of Midnight * Ten Little Piggies * Charles Bobuck * Combo de Mecanico * Sonidos de la Noche External links and references * The UGHS! at The Residents Historical * The UGHS!at MVD Audio * The UGHS!at Discogs Category:Albums Category:The UGHS! Category:The Voice of Midnight